Attrition rate and cost calculator
Attrition is usually reported as a percentage and argued about as a cost. This calculator does both: the annual rate from headcount and leavers, and the cost per leaver built from hiring, training weeks and the weeks a new starter spends below full productivity, then the FTE that ramp-up quietly removes from the roster.
Hiring, training and ramp-up for every leaver.
- Attrition rate
- 30.0%
- Cost per leaver
- £7,320
- FTE lost to ramp-up
- 4.2
- Average tenure implied
- 40.0
Headcount that is paid but not yet productive.
Months, if the rate holds.
Show the working
- Attrition rate = 30 leavers ÷ 100 average headcount = 30.0%.
- Cost per leaver = hiring £3000 + training 4 wk × £600 = £2400 + ramp 8 wk × £600 × (1 − 0.60) = £1920: £7320.
- Annual cost = £7320 × 30 = £219600.
- FTE lost to ramp-up = 30 × (4 + 8 × 0.40) weeks ÷ 52 = 4.2 FTE not on the phones, every year.
Doing this for every interval of the week? Pebble WFM computes the requirement from your forecast and builds the roster. Free month, no card needed.
How the cost of attrition is calculated
The rate is leavers over the year divided by average headcount. Thirty leavers from a hundred is 30 per cent, and its inverse, 12 ÷ 0.3, is an average tenure of forty months; at 60 per cent the average agent lasts twenty.
The cost per leaver has three parts. Hiring is the visible one. Training is paid time off the phones. Ramp-up is the quiet one: a new starter on the phones at 60 per cent productivity for eight weeks costs 40 per cent of eight weeks' pay in work not done. Multiply by leavers for the annual bill.
The FTE figure is the same ramp-up expressed as headcount: with thirty leavers a year each spending twelve weeks below full productivity, several FTE of the roster are paid for and not delivering. It is why a centre with 100 headcount at 30 per cent attrition staffs like one with 95, and why the occupancy and burnout numbers on the other calculators feed back into this one.
Frequently asked questions
- What is a typical attrition rate for a contact centre?
- Twenty to thirty-five per cent a year is common; outsourcers and sales lines often run higher. Under 15 per cent is unusual and usually reflects a small, experienced team.
- What should I include in the weekly cost?
- Salary plus employer costs: pension, national insurance, and any allowances. Leave out the seat and licence, which are paid whether or not the agent stays, unless the seat would otherwise be given up.
- How does attrition relate to occupancy?
- Sustained occupancy above about 90 per cent raises attrition, and attrition raises shrinkage and lowers effective headcount, which raises occupancy. This calculator prices the loop; the occupancy calculator shows where it starts.
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